But he also added: "The woman has died; let the family mourn her in peace."

The Guardian reports that the Thatcher family asked the British government to leave Fernandez out of the funeral guest list. The paper explains:

"Until this morning there was official silence in Argentina regarding the death of Thatcher, who is both reviled and respected in the country for her swift military response following Argentina's invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.

"Britain defeated Argentina in that brief war, but Thatcher is considered a war criminal by many Argentinians for her order to sink the General Belgrano cruiser even though it was outside the UK-declared exclusion zone, resulting in the loss of 323 lives. At the same time, she is held in esteem by others because the swift defeat resulted in humiliation and the collapse of the bloody military dictatorship that ruled Argentina at the time."